TITLE:
Analysis of the Effect of Space Radiations on the Nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans , through the Simulated Space Radiation
AUTHORS:
Soyeon Yi, Soyeon Kim, Jeeyeon Song
KEYWORDS:
Astronaut; International Space Station; Space Experiment; Space Radiation; C. elegans; Microarray
JOURNAL NAME:
International Journal of Astronomy and Astrophysics,
Vol.3 No.3,
September
3,
2013
ABSTRACT:
In this study, we simulated space flight of the nematode, Caenorhabditis elegans, on the ground and examined how it is
affected by space radiation and G-forces. We simulated G-forces during launch
in a gravity acceleration laboratory device in order to identify and isolate
the effects of the G-forces. Following this, we irradiated C. elegans with accelerated protons (MC-50 Cyclotron) and gamma
rays (iR 222 machine) at the same physical dose. We calculated the expected
radiation dose according to Reitz [1] and simulation programs (NASA AP8MIN [2],
NASA AE8MAX [2], and CREAM86 [3]) for 1 month (dose rate: 6 × 10-3 Gy; 2.8 × 10-2 Gy), 6 months (dose rate: 36 × 10-3 Gy; 16.8
× 10-2 Gy), and 2 years (dose rate: 144 × 10-3 Gy; 67.2 × 10-2 Gy) of space flight. There have been
several trials that aimed to take C.
elegans into orbit on US space shuttle missions including a mission on
the shuttle Columbia. In this study, we simulated longer duration space flights
and performed a whole-genome microarray analysis to observe phenotype variations
whereas most such experiments were carried out during short duration space flights
and focused on mutations and genotypic variations. We expect that the
results of this study will be useful to predict the effects of long-term
exposure of space radiation on living organisms.